Stop IT Help Desk Tickets Before They Start

A few ways big companies are lightening the IT workload.

As the modern IT worker, you shouldn’t need to fulfill every little request in the company. After all, it’s the IT masterminds that have to plan long-term strategies and research new technologies. We looked at common IT help desk (or service desk) requests and found a few tools that big companies are using to save time and money.

1. Standardize equipment for consistency and outsourced support.

“My screen broke.”

Select a standard hardware and operating system for the whole company to use. If everyone’s picking out their own, you may be losing out on ways to save time and money. Streamlining will save time for both employees and IT will understand a specific hardware and OS. It will save money as you can get better pricing and outsource tech support for your hardware.

Capital One prefers Apple for familiarity purposes. They “deploy iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch to provide associates across the company with the devices they know and love. This approach empowers them to reimagine the experience of banking.” These associates could also always fall back on the Apple Store’s Genius Bar for tech support.

One of our cofounders agrees with the idea of familiarity. There’s a high value in selecting something that most of your employees already know how to use.

2. Tap into SaaS for ease, access, and their very own service desks.

“I keep getting a bug with this software.”

If you use SaaS solutions, software as a service means you can also use these vendors’ service desks as a service. If employees are having issues with software, they can contact the software company directly. There’s also an increased ease of use and access as all you need is an internet connection

Forrester found that many IT pros are using SaaS products for non-priority software, like recruiting tools and CRMs. SaaS subscription pricing is often more affordable than hosted or home built options.

GE uses Box’s SaaS storage and content management solution to help them lead the digital industrial revolution. They are able to grant easier access to content across 300,000+ employees, and call this process “Best in Class.”

3. Give more control and access to passwords, at the same time.

“I forgot my password.”

A password management tool allows you to easily control who is accessing passwords. This is especially helpful with employees coming and going from the company. These tools also limit the forgotten password requests that employees may otherwise need IT for.

We use 1password, which has been a great tool for password loss and management. Looks like Dribbble uses 1password, too. “When I needed to help someone recover their account, it was a really simple process. It was all very straightforward, I didn’t even need to Google anything!”

LastPass is another good option, and their customer Hootsuite is psyched on it. “As the IT Director, I sleep better knowing that when an employee is granted access to a device or service via LastPass we are not disclosing login credentials. We can then simply revoke the access from an individual without having to reset passwords and redistribute them. This saves us countless hours and even more sleep.”

source: someecards

4. Use an electronic signature tool to avoid frustrations with printers, in-person signatures, and scanners.

“The scanner isn’t going through to my email.”

Expedia uses DocuSign and has saved themselves 12-15in stack of paper every day. They’ve also shaved off hours and days in closing deals by going the electronic route. They now complete new lodging agreements and get the latest offerings to customers faster. DocuSign has even expanded into other realms of the Expedia office now due to its ease of use and security.

5. Use a cloud-based IT help desk software to install updates automatically and manage requests efficiently.

“Hi, just here to get my system updated…sigh…”

In-person updates should be a thing of the past, and using cloud-based help/service desk software like ServiceNow or Samanage can help. With those, you can apply system updates from one place and set to automated.

You can also manage requests faster and more easily, with better tracking. The IT gurus behind SXSW use Samanage as a system to manage their hardware as it bounces around the festival. In this high-pressure environment, accurate tracking of these tools is pivotal.

6. Install cybersecurity software and help protect your company.

“I think I clicked on an email virus.”

Even for Apple products, you should install at least a thin layer of security. We use Avast here in the office. Xerox uses McAfee to protect their own customers’ data and enjoys the openness to integration that McAfee offers.

7. Offer cables, cords, dongles and more, without having to do anything.

“I forgot my charger.”

Deloitte uses a self-service kiosk by ByBox that stores accessories, like charging cables, HDMI cords, and others. If your office has a ton of people with these types of requests, the ByBox solution may be a good one for you. Eventually, you can add on to that solution by setting up a physical service desk, or “genius bar” for your office. While that means an IT representative needs to be present all day, it allows employees to have easier access. Which means they’ll be back to work faster and maybe even send you one of those internal thank you gift cards — cha-ching!

themed cables not guaranteed. source: thinkgeek

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IT is already a pivotal role in more and more projects across an organization. The higher the number of people you can dedicate within your IT department to bigger picture projects, the better off the company will be. Not to mention, those projects will be way more fun to work on than fulfilling silly help desk requests. No offense, Sally in Accounting — we know you just needed a new mouse.

Oh, and if people are putting in help desk tickets for meeting room issues like a dead lightbulb, we can help with that.